Describe the past, understand the present, predict the future

Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic: The Response of Life to Change or EBA is an international, multidisciplinary programme that has been approved by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) for 2006 - 2013.

This programme combines the research communities and aims of the past SCAR programmes of RiSCC, EVOLANTA and EASIZ.

EBA seeks to:

Understand the evolution and diversity of life in the Antarctic;

Determine how these have influenced the properties and dynamics of present Antarctic ecosystems and the Southern Ocean system;

Make predictions on how organisms and communities are responding and will respond to current and future environmental change; and

Identify EBA science outcomes that are relevant to conservation policy and communicate this science via the SCAR Antarctic Treaty System Committee.

EBA aims to facilitate collaboration between key researchers from other disciplines through workshops and conferences and maximize international and multidisciplinary involvement. By integrating research in marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems in a manner never before attempted, EBA hopes to advance evolutionary and ecological science globally using model systems and organisms from the Antarctic.

The EBA team is also working closely with the SCAR scientific research programme on Antarctica and the Global Climate System (AGCS) to produce a book length review on "Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment" (ACCE), which is intended to be an equivalent of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.